Observation/Reflection #1: Starting From the Beginning
During this observation, focus on how class begins. Where is your CT before class begins? What is he or she doing? Using the clock on the wall, determine when your CT establishes order and begins class. How did she/he start their lesson? How is homework from the previous night reviewed/collected/assessed? How does your CT engage students during the opening of the lesson?
October 18, 2010 North Smithfield Middle School Mrs. Lynn Hannah
Observation
Mrs. Lynn Hannah is the 8th grade team leader, excluding her from a duty and advisory. However, during the every morning advisory lasting from 7:22 to 7:36 Mrs. Hannah is busy preparing for her day. During advisory on Monday, Mrs. Hannah was copying a few students lab reports that were going to be handed back in class later on. She explained to me that the lab reports were horrendous, so she was allowing the students to fix and resubmit their reports in one week under a few guidelines, one being that the original must be turned in. Therefore, she was photo copying a few students work because she knows she would get an excuse of "not giving it back to them" or "I lost it so what do I do now"? When advisory was nearing the end, Mrs. Hannah headed back to the room. As soon as the bell rang for students to change classes, Mrs. Hannah was by the door greeting students on their way in. I actually noticed that every teacher on the team was doing the same. Mrs. Hannah had her eyes in the hallway, but was still aware at all times of the students who had already entered the classroom, making sure they were taking their seats and getting out their notebooks to be ready to start class. The bell rang at 7:40 to begin first period and so did Mrs. Hannah. She wasted no time in getting the kids started in Monday's agenda.
Mrs. Hannah's way to kill two birds with one stone was to take attendance when she called on the students to bring up the weekends homework of "How Much Do I Weigh"? She explained to me that she has the students hand deliver all assignments now to avoid the excuse of "I put it right on your desk Mrs. Hannah, you must have lost it". Mrs. Hannah created a "Missing Homework Slip", that the students must fill out and hand in when their name is called if they do not have the assignment that is due. The slip requires: Name, Due Date, Period, Assignment (Specific), Why is this assignment missing, and What are you going to do to fix the problem? After the homework collection, Mrs. Hannah began the lesson with being relaxed, funny, and making appropriate jokes about the subject matter she was about to bring up. She explained to me before class that most of her students truly do care about their grades, so she was afraid of having some melt downs when the students received their lab reports back. She asked their students their favorite holiday, and right there almost every student starting shouting out, "Christmas! Hanukkah! Thanksgiving! St. Patty's Day!" It was easily noticeable that she had the student's attention at this point. So with the lab reports in hand, before giving them back, she told the students she is giving them an early Christmas/Hanukkah/Thanksgiving present and allowing resubmissions. Because she went about the bad grades in this way, she had the students cooperation and attention during the discussion of what they did wrong/good, what to do in the submission, the deadline, etc. Right from there, Mrs. Hannah began class, being on the "good side" of the students. They were attentive, interested, cooperative, and volunteered tremendously during the volume, mass, and weight activity.
Reflection
Many things jumped out at me while observing Mrs. Hannah's style of teaching. Firstly, I loved how she was greeting students from the hallway as they entered, but still had her head in the classroom managing the behavior of the students. Being in the classroom during this time, I saw how the students would behave without Mrs. Hannah in the room. But as soon as she poked her head around the corner and would simply say "Get your notebooks out, start copying down the daily objectives on the board. I want them done by the bell", students would immediately do as she said. It seemed she always had her classroom under control, but not in a bossy, intolerable way. Another aspect of Mrs. Hannah's teaching style that I liked, and will definitely have in my own classroom one day, were the homework slips. Mrs. Hannah showed me the folder of filled out homework slips from students and they were quite interesting. Yes, some students do not take them seriously and their answers of why their homework missing were quite comical, however, the point is they still had to fill them out. The slips made the students stop and think about their missing assignment and have to fill out, as some students say, an "annoying orange slip". Mrs. Hannah says she does not just do it for the students, but she does it for the parents as well. So when she gets a phone call from a parent saying, "Why does my son/daughter have a 50 in homework", she can go through her folder and take out the missing homework slips for that student and have it to show the parent. Thirdly, I liked how Mrs. Hannah opened her class. She says that the students love to talk about themselves, that is gets their attention and gets them talking as well, so she does things like this quite often. Literally as soon as she asked the students, "So what is your favorite holiday", all of them got excited and starting shouting theirs out. Mrs. Hannah explained to me that she knows it gets noisy when she does it like this, but it gets the students involved and interested in what she has to say, which is why she lets it go for a little bit, then calms them down.
Observation/Reflection #1: Starting From the Beginning
During this observation, focus on how class begins. Where is your CT before class begins? What is he or she doing? Using the clock on the wall, determine when your CT establishes order and begins class. How did she/he start their lesson? How is homework from the previous night reviewed/collected/assessed? How does your CT engage students during the opening of the lesson?October 18, 2010
North Smithfield Middle School
Mrs. Lynn Hannah
Observation
Mrs. Lynn Hannah is the 8th grade team leader, excluding her from a duty and advisory. However, during the every morning advisory lasting from 7:22 to 7:36 Mrs. Hannah is busy preparing for her day. During advisory on Monday, Mrs. Hannah was copying a few students lab reports that were going to be handed back in class later on. She explained to me that the lab reports were horrendous, so she was allowing the students to fix and resubmit their reports in one week under a few guidelines, one being that the original must be turned in. Therefore, she was photo copying a few students work because she knows she would get an excuse of "not giving it back to them" or "I lost it so what do I do now"? When advisory was nearing the end, Mrs. Hannah headed back to the room. As soon as the bell rang for students to change classes, Mrs. Hannah was by the door greeting students on their way in. I actually noticed that every teacher on the team was doing the same. Mrs. Hannah had her eyes in the hallway, but was still aware at all times of the students who had already entered the classroom, making sure they were taking their seats and getting out their notebooks to be ready to start class. The bell rang at 7:40 to begin first period and so did Mrs. Hannah. She wasted no time in getting the kids started in Monday's agenda.
Mrs. Hannah's way to kill two birds with one stone was to take attendance when she called on the students to bring up the weekends homework of "How Much Do I Weigh"? She explained to me that she has the students hand deliver all assignments now to avoid the excuse of "I put it right on your desk Mrs. Hannah, you must have lost it". Mrs. Hannah created a "Missing Homework Slip", that the students must fill out and hand in when their name is called if they do not have the assignment that is due. The slip requires: Name, Due Date, Period, Assignment (Specific), Why is this assignment missing, and What are you going to do to fix the problem? After the homework collection, Mrs. Hannah began the lesson with being relaxed, funny, and making appropriate jokes about the subject matter she was about to bring up. She explained to me before class that most of her students truly do care about their grades, so she was afraid of having some melt downs when the students received their lab reports back. She asked their students their favorite holiday, and right there almost every student starting shouting out, "Christmas! Hanukkah! Thanksgiving! St. Patty's Day!" It was easily noticeable that she had the student's attention at this point. So with the lab reports in hand, before giving them back, she told the students she is giving them an early Christmas/Hanukkah/Thanksgiving present and allowing resubmissions. Because she went about the bad grades in this way, she had the students cooperation and attention during the discussion of what they did wrong/good, what to do in the submission, the deadline, etc. Right from there, Mrs. Hannah began class, being on the "good side" of the students. They were attentive, interested, cooperative, and volunteered tremendously during the volume, mass, and weight activity.
Reflection
Many things jumped out at me while observing Mrs. Hannah's style of teaching. Firstly, I loved how she was greeting students from the hallway as they entered, but still had her head in the classroom managing the behavior of the students. Being in the classroom during this time, I saw how the students would behave without Mrs. Hannah in the room. But as soon as she poked her head around the corner and would simply say "Get your notebooks out, start copying down the daily objectives on the board. I want them done by the bell", students would immediately do as she said. It seemed she always had her classroom under control, but not in a bossy, intolerable way. Another aspect of Mrs. Hannah's teaching style that I liked, and will definitely have in my own classroom one day, were the homework slips. Mrs. Hannah showed me the folder of filled out homework slips from students and they were quite interesting. Yes, some students do not take them seriously and their answers of why their homework missing were quite comical, however, the point is they still had to fill them out. The slips made the students stop and think about their missing assignment and have to fill out, as some students say, an "annoying orange slip". Mrs. Hannah says she does not just do it for the students, but she does it for the parents as well. So when she gets a phone call from a parent saying, "Why does my son/daughter have a 50 in homework", she can go through her folder and take out the missing homework slips for that student and have it to show the parent. Thirdly, I liked how Mrs. Hannah opened her class. She says that the students love to talk about themselves, that is gets their attention and gets them talking as well, so she does things like this quite often. Literally as soon as she asked the students, "So what is your favorite holiday", all of them got excited and starting shouting theirs out. Mrs. Hannah explained to me that she knows it gets noisy when she does it like this, but it gets the students involved and interested in what she has to say, which is why she lets it go for a little bit, then calms them down.